


Cliché

by eltanin-malfoy (GammaDraconis)



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Abrupt Ending, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, Female Reader, M/M, Multi, Not Canon Compliant, Not Canon Compliant - Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Not Canon Compliant - Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Not Canon Compliant - Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Reader-Insert, gender neutral reader, male reader - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-28
Updated: 2019-10-28
Packaged: 2021-01-05 16:16:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,293
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21211442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GammaDraconis/pseuds/eltanin-malfoy
Summary: Malfoy clearly recognised this. And what used to be occasional shows of aggression turned into.. well.. an everyday thing. His two ‘rivals’ had gotten close and he was very, very annoyed. Very.And time really did begin to fly. The long days you had turned into quick weeks and months and Harry defeated the ‘Basilisk’ and saved Ron’s sister and everything was alright. And you had good friends.And an enemy. Ugh. Clichés are clichés for a reason, huh?orEnemies to lovers. Need I say more? Requested on my tumblr - eltanin-malfoy.





	Cliché

Everything between the two of you was always as if out of a predictable sitcom. The misfit and the bully, almost immediately enemies. One on the wrong side of a prejudice and the other simply resisting it. 

It started off with chiding, with unfriendly confrontation. Drama you couldn’t care less for. Eleven year old you didn’t need this kind of nonsense. You were studying, by the fireplace in the common room. Warm heat radiating onto your sweater covered frame, when cold steely eyes locked onto yours and walked over to you.  
  
“So, it’s true, is it?”  
“What?”  
“You’re a mudblood? Or at least one of your par-”  
“No. Are you done now?”  
“That can’t be.. That’s not what Daph-”  
“Daphne and everyone else just want to make up reasons as to why I don’t want to spend time with the rest of them.” 

“You sure? You’re uh-” 

“I’m sure. Just because I don’t believe you and all your.. cronies aren’t better than everyone else just for being pureblooded doesn’t me-”  
“Okay, I get it, I get it. You don’t have to act all high and mighty for thinking you’re better than us just because you sympathize with mudbloods.”  
“How dare you!”

And that was how it started. The mother of all cliches. You were rivals, enemies, whatever you want to call it. The animosity between the two of you only grew as time passed.

Your first year passed on in solitude. You tried your best to stay away from the preying Slytherins of your year. However, this was difficult considering each of your housemates were in pretty much all of your classes with you. The general bitterness between you and the rest of your house was clear to the rest of your year and so you managed to remain civil with everyone else. But that was the extent of any of that. Just polite smiles, nods and whispered words. Nothing more. And it was.. unpleasant. But bearable, so you didn’t complain. 

Your second year was quite a bit more terrifying. The Chamber of Secrets and the Heir of Slytherin.. Mrs. Norris.. You’d heard the mumbles and whispers about Harry Potter being the guilty party, and you couldn’t help but believe them the slightest bit. The other houses seemed to turn against you the slightest bit but you strung it out, growing wary and hoping that the true culprit would be found sooner than later.  
  
But then the petrifications began.. and well.. it was scary, to be very, very concise. Students you’d known the past year or so, perky, bright ones even, were found frozen, basically. What was even scarier was no one knew what or how these attacks were occurring. Of course, the ‘heir of Slytherin’ was behind these attacks, but who even was that? You began to suspect something yourself. 

It was too obvious. The person behind them couldn’t possibly as blatant as.. he was being. You were beginning to lose respect for him very steadily. One can only say the ‘m’ word a couple of times before you can’t help but wish to knock the living daylights out of them. Buying his place onto the Quidditch team was one thing, but acting as if it had nothing to do with his father’s money was just stupid. It annoyed you much too much. 

And then it happened.

You were making your way back to your dormitory after lunch, taking a bit of a detour to walk alone and clear your head for a while. But then.. you noticed.. them.

The ‘brightest witch of your year’ (or at least that’s what you’d overheard some adults saying.. sigh.) and that one blonde Ravenclaw prefect you’d seen around.. on the floor, frozen as if they were made of stone. A large mirror in the bushy brunette’s hand. Any prejudice you’d held against either of them disappeared in that instant and your feet began scampering off, your hands trembling the slightest bit as you found the nearest teacher (Professor.. Vector, was it?) and told them what you’d just seen. 

Of course, other members of the staff arrived in an instant, quickly taking off with the two to the Hospital Wing. You followed after them, this close to hyperventilating and just in general blowing your top off. You stood warily, being handed a bottle of Calming Draught as you took a seat nearby. 

McGonagall came in soon enough, followed by Harry Potter himself (he couldn’t possible be the guilty party now..), in his Quidditch robes, gosh, and Ron Weasley. The two walked over to her bed and stared at her, touching her hands and looking shocked. Ron gulped audibly before Madam Pomfrey muttered something to the two of them and they looked over at you, their faces still solemn. Harry looked back at Granger, but Ron mouthed a ‘Thanks’ before doing the same.

You walked over to them and spoke and then… you finally managed to make your first proper alliance at school, or.. most people would simply call it a friendship, I suppose. A few of them, at that. All at once.

Malfoy clearly recognised this. And what used to be occasional shows of aggression turned into.. well.. an everyday thing. His two ‘rivals’ had gotten close and he was very, very annoyed. Very. 

And time really did begin to fly. The long days you had turned into quick weeks and months and Harry defeated the ‘Basilisk’ and saved Ron’s sister and everything was alright. And you had good friends.

And an enemy. Ugh. Clichés are clichés for a reason, huh?

Third year began with its.. commotions. You were in the same Care for Magical Creatures class as Harry, Ron and Hermione, which was certainly great, but.. so was Draco (and all of his buddies, gross!).

There was everything with Sirius Black and Draco’s chiding and well… you’d had enough.  
  
Draco called Hermione that.. filthy word yet another time and Harry and Hermione had to hold you and Ron back before you actually just knocked his head in and broke his bones and-

Goddammit. You couldn’t take this anymore. Three years had passed and you were still struggling with Draco Malfoy and his pristine blonde hair and his blue blooded gait and his idiotic ego. Obviously, telling Snape wasn’t an option. And so you took it upon yourself. Why did you attempt to change someone so goddamn difficult? Who knows. We all do dumb things sometimes, right?

One night in September in the Slytherin commons, you grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him to a corner, much to the alarm of all his cronies. 

“You need to stop.”

“Stop what?”  
“Being such a goddamn prat.”

His silvery eyes shimmered in the dim light and he began glaring down at you.  
“Says you, the friend of slimy Gryffindors, sympathizer of mudbl-” 

“This is exactly what I’m talking about, Merlin!”

“Do all blood traitors think you’re above all of us whom are actually right or is it just the four of you?”

“Draco.. Just.. shut up.”

“What? I’m n-”  
“You’re just being a prick. You’re the biggest arsehole I know! I swear!”

“You are so-!”  
  
“The two of you need to calm down and clear out of here.” A third voice suddenly appeared out of nowhere. You looked up and were met with the piercing gaze of Dendron, the new merciless fifth year Prefect. Goddammit. Oh well, at least you were saved from getting a massive headache.

You walked away and your fourth year continued as it was. And all the foreigners arrived and… Harry.. well.. 

Trouble really finds him, doesn’t it?

And of course, Draco only grew more pathetic. Seeing him getting turned into a ferret was one of the highlights of your year. Your quarrelling was growing constant. You might have, on occasion, gone around looking to bump into him and get into a bit of a spat. It was a little entertaining, you had to admit, how very irritable he was. 

One December morning, when the silvers of wintry frost had made themselves known on your window, you traversed around the castle with three of your closest friends. Harry had successfully completed the first task and there was still a long way to go till the second, but of course, the four of you still had other things to worry about, or not to worry about, I guess. It wasn’t long before you took their leave and headed back to your dormitory for your Transfiguration textbook, Hermione was willing to help you revise for the next test for once, and you weren’t going to miss out on such a great opportunity. 

But alas! Someone else had a better idea. You were pulled to the side as you walked into the now empty Slytherin common room. Goddammit, this is another cliché of its own, is it not? 

“The Yule Ball. Come with me.”  
“What? No, I won’t, Malfoy. You can’t ju-”  
“I’m trying to get Pansy jealous.. She’s-”  
“So what? I’m no-”  
“Come on, please!”  
“No! Why can’t you ask Daphne or Millicent or one of your own other friends?”  
“Because they all have dates! They’re all busy! Do you really think you were my first option?”  
  
You didn’t know why but that one sentence left a bitter taste in your mouth.  
  
“So, you’re telling me I’m your last resort?”  
“No! Come on! You have to come with me to the Yule Ball, I can get you nice dress robes. More exquisite than-”  
“Oh my god, Draco! Do you really think you can buy me too?”

He glowered down at you and you frowned right back. 

“Has anyone else even asked you?”  
“… It’s none of your business.”  
“They haven’t, have they?”  
“It’s none of your business.”  
“Then why don’t you want to go with me?”  
“Because you’re a right arse! And I hate you!”  
He rolled his eyes. “Oh, please. You couldn’t hate me.”

“Oh, please. Yes, I do. I hate you. You’re vile. And I’m surprised you don’t hate me either.”  
“I do what I have to do for the things I want.”  
“So going to the ball with me is something you-”  
“Just.. shut it. I swear. I don’t even know why I’m asking you. You’re so goddamn difficult.”  
“Why are you asking me then?”  
“Because Pansy’d get weirdly jealous of you. She didn’t like us talking or anything of that sort.”  
“Why? I thought she was like that with everyone.”  
“No.. she was sensible with other people.. but she said we.. had.. way too much chemistry.”

“.. This is some kind of joke, right?”  
“No.. it’s not. And I can’t help but..” He looked at you in a way which made your knees feel like they couldn’t hold you up much longer. “But believe it.”  
“But there-”  
“If you hate me so much.. then why do you keep staring at me all the time? Even try to look for me, don’t you?”

“N-no! I don’t!” Shit. “How would you even know? Doesn’t that mean you-”

He huffed. “Can’t you read between the lines?”  
“What are you talking about?”  
“I like you. That’s why she was jealous of you. She… knew.” You weren’t even sure why your stomach felt like it was about to turn over on itself and your cheeks felt so hot you were afraid they’d light up.  
“What? But-”  
“Aren’t people mean to those they fancy? Haven’t you heard of that?”  
“That’s not true! That’s just an excuse for-”  
“Shut up.”  
  
He blinked slowly, grey orbs tracing a path over your face. He took a step forward and closed the gap between the two of you. And then, for some weird reason, he leaned over to press a kiss to your lips. And for some even more absurd reason, you didn’t push him away. It was soft. And nice. And.. it was okay. Whatever this was.

But why was it? He was.. awful. Looking at him was alright.. but.. 

Maybe he could change? 

And you didn’t realise how long the two of you just.. stared at each other. Smiled. You didn’t even register when your friends showed up and.. caught you.

“Y/N..?” Hermione called out, and you looked to the side immediately, snapping out of your gaze and seeing the three of them standing together. How long had they been there? Had they seen everything? Oh, Christ, this is another trope, is it not?

Ron’s freckled cheeks were pinking up furiously and Harry suddenly spoke up. “You were taking a while so we thought we’d check if you got stuck or something.. And I guess we were right.” Ron suddenly scampered forwards but Harry grabbed him by the shoulders again. “You’d best not do a thing to Y/N, Malfoy! I’ll knock your block right off, I swear it! Give you another black eye if that’s what you want!”

You reached down and fiddled with the tip of your tie. “Th-there’s nothing between us like that.. Not..”

“Not yet.” Draco completed for you, and you looked up at him, then back at the three of them.

“I mean.. we saw enough, Y/N.” Hermione took a deep breath. “And.. I’d say.. I was disappointed and all of that stuff.. but I can’t even say I’m surprised.”

Ron let out a sound of surprise. “What are you talking about? I knew Y/N-”  
“It’s all Y/N can think about doing nowadays, isn’t it? Getting on Malfoy’s nerves?” 

The three of them looked at each other in solemn agreement before simply nodding over at you. And that was that. Being caught sharing warm breaths and blushing and everything in between. It was so out of nowhere and yet it was not. 

Oh, Merlin. Enemies to lovers stories are so goddamn clichéd. 


End file.
